Equal Rights for All Americans Championed at Oscars

By Kevin Gosztola

Despite proclamations of "yes we did," a lot has not been done in this country, including recognizing the rights of gay people to marry and adopt children.

I read an interesting article in today's Washington Post by Michelle Boorstein, "Survey: Culture War Truce on the Horizon" http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/08/culture_wars.html?hpid=topnews as to whether current trends indicate a reversal in some of the trends among peo

This has been a long and on-going process...Who would've thought that we'd have so many amazing local poets in the city of Nashville just dying to perform at a Human Rights event?

Politics

My Facebook engagement lasted less than 24 hours.

I was one of the many whom, during the social networking website’s early development when two profiles first began to link to one another through a declaration of a relationship status, light-heartedly proposed an “engagement” to a female friend from high school.

As a new student at college where not everyone I knew was familiar with the nature of my relationship to my freshly declared “fiancé” and perhaps because these “comical
engagements” were not quite as rampant as they currently are, my relationship status caused confusion. I received several inquiries about “the lucky lady” as well as a sweet but misguided congratulatory email for my impending nuptials.

A little while ago, I posted a blog encouraging people to call their senators and ask them to vote in favor of the Matthew Shepard Act. I'm going to be honest here; I never called. I didn't do anything. This morning I got an email from Judy Shepard asking, once again, if I would call my senators and tell them I support the Matthew Shepard Act, which will expand federal hate crimes laws. The senate may vote on this act as early as today. So, I sent emails to both of my senators.

The Human Rights Campaign has released a questionnaire on GLBT issues to the 2008 democratic presidential candidates. You can download it here: http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=36930&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/Con

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For the most part the candidates agree on everything from supporting federal hate crimes legislation to comprehensive sex education and repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The only thing I found disappointing about the candidates' responses were how few of them support same-sex marriage.

The House recently passed the Matthew Shepard Act which would expand hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Now, it's up for a vote in the Senate.

Please give your Senators a call at: 202-224-3121 (ask for your Senator's office) and tell them you support the Matthew Shepard Act.

Citizens of Massachusetts are fiercely lobbying their legislators, trying to swing their votes in favor/against a ballot measure allowing Massachusetts voters to decide whether or not gay marriage will survive in the Bay State.  

I've been getting emails from my friends in Holyoke (a wonderful city in Western Mass), who met with their local representative, Tim Kane, to ask him to vote against a ballot measure, and I write to you to say: I'm torn, friends. Help me out.